AFC West Linebackers from an Oakland Raiders’ Eye View

Tonight, I continue my ongoing series ranking the position groups of the teams of the AFC West. Thus far its been established that all four teams in the AFC West have young quarterbacks, top rushing attacks, and a real threat at the tight end position. When it comes to wide receivers, offensive and defensive lines, there is a wide divergence among the teams. Tonights edition focuses on the linebacking corps. How do the four teams of the AFC West stack up in terms of linebackers?

San Diego Chargers:

This unit is anchored by three time All Pro OLB Shawne Merriman. He may have been popped for “tainted supplements” in 2006, but he is a force to be reckoned with. His counterpart on the other side, Shaun Phillips is no joke either. Their inside backers are better than average that when combined with the Shawne and Shaun tandem form an elite unit. They were torched bad by Adrian Peterson last year, but that was quite unusual for a normally consistent unit.

OUTLOOK: Unless Merriman uses those “tainted supplements” again, he figures to make his way to the Pro Bowl. With the Bolts using a 3-4 alignment, this unit is the key to the defensive success of the team.

Oakland Raiders:

The Raiders have two of the most exciting young linebackers in the game in the “Law Firm” of Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard. Morrison and Howard combined for ten interceptions last year and Howard took two of them to the house, and they are only in their fourth and third years respectively. Sam Williams and Robert Thomas will be competing for the other OLB position with Edgerton Hartwell looking to make some noise.

OUTLOOK: The Dynamic Duo of Morrison and Howard figure to only improve. The weakness of the unit is the other OLB position, with neither Williams or Thomas taking over the position last year.

Kansas City Chiefs:

The Chiefs have the solid veteran in Donnie Edwards in the middle, with Derrick Johnson playing sideline to sideline from the OLB position. The acquisition of Domorrio Williams from Atlanta will be an upgrade over Napoleon Harris. This is one of the few positions on the Chiefs’ roster that looks to be strong, it is just unfortunate for them that its a strength in the division.

OUTLOOK: This looks to be the strongest unit on the Chiefs’ defense.

Denver Broncos:

The Broncos hope that uniting Boss Bailey with his brother Champ will help him reach the potential that he never did in Detroit. DJ Williams is solid. Niko Koutouvides was acquired from Seattle to man the middle, and rotoworld is reporting that Nate Webster is also seeing first team reps.

OUTLOOK: The Broncos’ run defense was almost as bad as Oakland’s last year, and are hoping their revamped LB corps can turn things around for them.

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